


Calling Your Name

by TaraHarkon



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Backstory, Canonical Character Death, Character Death, Death, Drowning, F/M, Family, M/M, Memory Loss, Past, Temporary Character Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-13
Updated: 2019-02-13
Packaged: 2019-10-27 07:23:08
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,914
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17762363
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TaraHarkon/pseuds/TaraHarkon
Summary: "Kravitz? ....Kravitz?"Kravitz stirred restlessly, the air around him going cooler and cooler as he tangled himself in the blankets. A voice echoed in his dreams, one he barely remembered in his dimmest memories but not in his waking mind. Taako sat up, rubbing one eye, and then put a hand on Kravitz's bare shoulder. Kravitz flinched and then woke up, the chill in the air vanishing almost immediately.





	Calling Your Name

_"Kravitz? ....Kravitz?"_  

Kravitz stirred restlessly, the air around him going cooler and cooler as he tangled himself in the blankets. A voice echoed in his dreams, one he barely remembered in his dimmest memories but not in his waking mind. Taako sat up, rubbing one eye, and then put a hand on Kravitz's bare shoulder. Kravitz flinched and then woke up, the chill in the air vanishing almost immediately.

"Bones, you okay?"

Taako's words slurred together with sleep and his ears flicked back with worry. Kravitz took a few shaky breaths and then hesitated before answering. He wasn't entirely certain if he was okay and he had to evaluate the overlay of emotions that clung to him from his dreams. 

"I think so? I'm honestly not sure, Taako. But..." He licked his lips, that high voice, almost scared, still echoed between his ears. "It was just a dream. I'm alright."

Taako's frown deepened but he accepted the answer. Kravitz had been having "dreams" that woke him up like this for the last two weeks and Taako couldn't help but worry. He was sure something was bothering Kravitz, he just wasn't sure what it could possibly be. And Kravitz kept deflecting, saying it was nothing, even though there was clearly something haunting the man. There was a shadow deep in his red eyes that Taako couldn't shake. 

Kravitz though... Kravitz knew exactly when this had started, he just didn't know what the dreams were trying to tell him. 

It had started two weeks ago when they had been sitting on the couch together with Taako sprawled across his lap and Caleb, ostensibly Angus' cat, was curled up under his hand. They had been watching Fantasy Queer Eye while Taako rambled about his day and the latest gossip from the rest of the IPRE. He'd been gesturing broadly while he talked about Lup and Barry's upcoming wedding. They were finally getting married ("Took them fuckin' long enough.") and he'd been talking to his sister about whether or not she was taking the nerd's name ("She is! Lup _Bluejeans_. Can you even believe it?"). Then he'd tilted his head back, looking up at Kravitz, and smiled.

"You know, I never asked. Have you even got a last name, babe?"

Kravitz had laughed. Then he opened his mouth to answer and paused. Kravitz was only a half elf, half drow to be specific, and his pointed ears weren't nearly as expressive as Taako's, but they did still flick back just slightly as he stayed quiet. Then, after a long moment, he spoke, his voice was a bare whisper.

"I don't remember."

That had been two weeks ago and Kravitz still didn't remember. And he didn't remember the face to go with the voice that haunted his dreams. At first, he had thought perhaps it was his Queen, that perhaps he had misheard her summoning from his bed for a mission. He'd quickly been disabused of that notion. The Raven Queen didn't know who he was hearing either, or at least she was keeping quiet if she did know.

Kravitz sat up, rubbing at his eyes. Then he sighed a little.

"Go back to sleep, love. I'm going to go get a glass of water and then I'll be back."

Taako was reluctant to go back to sleep, not with Kravitz worked up still in the wake of a nightmare, but he relented as Kravitz kissed his forehead and then slid out of the bed. Taako pulled the blanket back over him and rolled over as Kravitz slipped his favorite pair of bunny slippers on and padded down to the kitchen. They were a bit silly, black rabbits with bright red eyes, but they had been a Candlenights present from Lup and Barry and they were quite comfortable, so he wore them, ridiculous or no. He reached for a glass and went to the tap to fill it, leaning heavily against the counter. He wished he could find his answers. They had to be out there somewhere. 

* * *

The mission call came in the early hours a week later, the sun not even above the horizon yet. Barry had responded to the summons first, his scythe in one hand and a mug of coffee in the other. Lup was next and, for once, Kravitz was last. He looked exhausted and rumpled but as he stepped into the Astral Plane, his pajamas were replaced with his suit and only the shadows under his eyes betrayed the restless night he'd had. If someone had told Kravitz so much as a year before that life would Taako would mean a renewed need for sleep and a steady heartbeat, he wasn't sure if he would have believed it. But as he adjusted his tie, things settled back into place and he was ready for the day. He glanced at his two fellow Reapers as Barry took another long sip of his coffee.

"Do we have any idea what the situation is?"

Barry shook his head and Lup shrugged, working on pulling her hair back into a ponytail.

"Bird Mom made it sound important but that's all I've got."

Kravitz pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. He'd been trying to get Lup to stop using that nickname for their Queen without much success. At this point, he wasn't even trying to stop her. After a conversation with Taako, he'd realized that just letting her do what she wanted was probably for the best. A moment later, the Raven Queen herself manifested at the front of the room.

"My Reapers, I have for you a most important mission. One which requires the utmost care and speed. A cabal of necromancers have stolen several souls from within the Sea itself. These souls must be returned as quickly as possible and the necromancers dealt with accordingly."

All three Reapers tensed at that. The implication that someone had broken into the Astral Plane and stolen souls that were in their care caused all three of them to bristle, the implication that this had happened under their watch rankled. Kravitz nodded slowly.

"Where can we find them, my Queen? Which souls were taken? How many?"

The Raven Queen paused then, her gaze settling on Kravitz. It was almost as though she hadn't realized before he was standing there. The silence hung in the air for a long moment before she spoke.

"Kravitz, my Reaper, if you choose not to undertake this mission when given the list of souls to recover, I would understand. This perhaps hits a bit too close to home."

Kravitz blinked several times, utterly convinced he hadn't heard right. Not go on a mission? Him? Too close to home? Then he realized that both Barry and Lup were staring at him. 

"My Queen, I don't understand. If the mission is of the utmost importance..." He trailed off for a moment and then tried to pull his words back together. "If this mission needs to be handled quickly then shouldn't I go?"

The Raven Queen was uncharacteristically quiet. Then she nodded.

"Of course, my Reaper. I shall add the list of names to your book of bounties, but understand that they are to be returned to the Sea. They are not criminals of their own choosing."

All three Reapers nodded and Kravitz raised a hand to call the book to his hand. He skimmed through the new list of names.

"Shall we, then?"

Lup grinned and turned, swinging her scythe hand over hand. Then she brought it down to slash a rift in the air.

"Hell yeah. Let's get this show on the road."

* * *

Something about the list kept catching Kravitz's mind, kept pulling him back to stare at it over and over again, even as the three Reapers walked together down the long corridor towards where their quarry was waiting. Finally, he dismissed the book and tried to focus on the task at hand. They could hear voices ahead where the necromancers should be. Lup was moving ahead, silently scouting and relaying what she was seeing back to Barry via the message spell. Then Kravitz's head snapped up as he heard something echo down the corridor. It was a voice, one he'd heard somewhere before.

_"Kravitz!_   _Kravitz, help me!"_

He wasn't sure when his scythe appeared in his hand but soon he was running towards that voice. Whoever it was, whatever it was, they needed him and they trusted him. He had to help. He had to get answers. Lup watched as he suddenly tore past her and then she reappeared from her invisibility to chase after him. Kravitz slammed through a door, that same high and scared voice echoing through his mind.

_"Kravitz! I'm scared!"_

Barry and Lup surged into the room after him, fighting as a well oiled team as they worked their way through the necromancers. Kravitz, though, ignored them as he tried to find the source of the voice. He slashed his scythe through those that got in his way but let others ran past him. Soon though, he was left standing in front of a ritual circle with a ball of light floating in it and nothing else. There was no one here, no person who could have been calling his name. Mutely, he scooped the several souls waiting there into his hand and turned to slash a portal back to the Astral Plane. After he'd disappeared, Barry paused and leaned against his own scythe. He stared at the portal hovering in the air and then looked back at Lup.

"Did uh... did that strike you as really weird?"

She leaned on her own scythe and nodded slowly.

"Really fuckin' weird, babe. Is he okay?"

Barry shrugged helplessly.

"Maybe Taako knows what's up?"

Lup stared at the portal for a long moment and then sighed.

"I sure hope so, Bear. I'll talk to him about it when we get home."

* * *

Kravitz didn't go back to the apartment after he brought the souls to the Astral Plane. Instead, he went to the office they shared and sat with the small ball of spirits, trying to find his answers. Whatever it was, the voice didn't call to him now and he was left at a loss. Finally, he stood and closed to the door to the office, sealing it with a hummed note. It was perhaps time to find his answers a bit recklessly. Kravitz sat on the floor and closed his eyes, falling almost immediately into an instinctual trance. 

_"Who are you?"_ His mind cried into the silence. _"Who are you and why can't I remember?"_

Silence. Only silence responded and he sighed. There had to be something, he wasn't just imagining this. Somewhere out there, there was someone who knew him, someone who called to him. He needed to know who it was and why. 

After a long moment, he stood again and reached out to the ball of spirits. Was it in there? Was that the secret? He stood, picking the ball up, but before he could do anything, the door opened. He turned, ready to snap at Lup or Barry for bursting in when he'd clearly sealed the room and instead dropped to a knee.

"My Queen."

The Raven Queen stood in the doorway, her raven skull mask obscuring her face as ever. Silently, she stepped up to him and reached for the collection of small souls, cradling it in her own hands.

"My Reaper, my poor dear Kravitz. Did I not tell you you could leave this mission to Reaper Lup and Reaper Barry?" 

That startled him and he looked up at her.

"My Queen, I don't understand. What does this have to do with the voice I keep hearing? Who is she?"

The Raven Queen was pensive, her expression under the mask unreadable. Then she held out a hand to him.

"I had thought you remembered and chose not to speak of it, my Reaper. Do you truly not remember your life before my halls?"

"I remember... I wanted to be a conductor."

Kravitz's voice was soft as he spoke, just a bare whisper that hung in the air. The Raven Queen shook her head and then drew him with her as she left the room.

"Let us put these little ones back into the Sea and then I will show you that which you no longer remember, my Reaper. I will show you how you came into my service."

* * *

Once the souls were returned to where they belonged, the Raven Queen stood on the edge of the Astral Sea and looked at her favorite Reaper, this man who she had long since come to think of as a son.

"Gaze into the water, my Reaper. Tell me, how does it make you feel?"

He turned his red eyed gaze on the still surface on the water and his cheeks turned ashen.

"Uncomfortable."

"You dislike the water." She said it as a statement of truth, not as a question. "Do you remember why?"

Kravitz hesitated. Surely, it was because of the Hunger's attack and nearly drowning under its surface. But no... he had disliked seeing still waters long before the Hunger had arrived on their plane. The Raven Queen nodded, agreeing with his silent realization.

"Do you wish to know? If I grant you this knowledge, I cannot take it away again."

Once again, Kravitz thought of the voice that called to him at night, the girl who sounded so scared. Then he nodded.

"Yes, My Queen. Please."

* * *

Kravitz sat on the edge of his small bed, strumming his lute with intent focus. He noticed nothing beyond the notes he plucked and the careful attention he paid to each chord and how his fingers fell on the strings. Each strum sounded loudly in the small room on the back of the cottage and Kravitz smiled. The door to his small room opened and he looked up at his mother, red eyes meeting green. The human woman in the doorway wiped her hands on her apron and looked at the young man.

"Have you seen your sister?"

Kravitz shook his head, setting his lute aside.

"No? I thought she was outside..." He stood, reaching for his coat. "I can go see. She can't have gotten far..."

He was halfway to the front door when he spotted the pegs by the door where their skates hung from a few days before. Or... where his hung. Sarah's skates were gone.

Kravitz ran blindly through the forest, tree branches swatting him in the face as he plowed through them without care. His only concern lay ahead of him, a quarter of a mile from their house. There was a pond out in the woods, deep enough that they could swim in it in the summer and skate on it in the winter. But the winter was warming, even if there was still a skim of ice and snow. 

He burst out of the trees, skidding to a halt just shy of the water's edge just in time to hear the crackling of thin ice and then a whimper of fear. Looking up he spotted his little sister out on the ice. Sarah wobbled uncertainly on her skates and tried to head for the bank only to fall on her hands and knees, the ice cracking under her again. Kravitz felt a cold fear grip his heart and shouted.

"Stay still! I'll get you, I promise. You're gonna be okay."

Sarah looked up, red eyes wide with terror.

"Kravitz?"

He picked his way along the ice as carefully as he could, testing each spot before he put his weight down. He wished, _wished_ , that either of them had inherited the innate magic of the Drow from their father. Then they would be able to levitate and Sarah would be perfectly safe. 

Only scant feet separated the two of them and Kravitz reached out towards her, straining to get a hand on her before the ice under them cracked further. If he could just get a hold of her, he could swing her towards the shore and that would be that. Stretching to her limit, their fingers met and Kravitz pulled Sarah towards him and then threw her beyond him, letting her skid across the ice. She landed in the snow with a whoop of laughter and then sat up to watch him make his way back to the shore. He shifted and the ice under him shattered, dropping him straight into the cold water below. The last thing he heard as he sank was his sister screaming his name.

And then next thing he had seen was the Raven Queen holding her hand out to him in the darkness.

"Kravitz," she had said. "Will you enter my retinue? Will you serve me as a Reaper?"

Kravitz blinked the dream-vision away then. He didn't need to see the rest to know how this part went. He remembered as surely as he remembered each and every moment with Taako. He had said yes. And now he understood. Now he knew who she was, and now he knew who he was. Kravitz looked out at the Astral Sea, still uncomfortable looking at the still surface, but he could see the silvery souls swimming beneath it and he silently bid his little sister farewell. Someday, he would find out what shape her life had taken after his had ended, but today was not that day.


End file.
